Firearms & Equipment, from late Renaissance to Thirty Years War

[Story]

Stumbled on this tonight, TONS of inspiration -

Firearms and Equipment from late Renaissance to Thirty Years War
http://www.engerisser.de/Bewaffnung/weapons/Firearms.html

 

[wheelockhunter]

Cool site, thanks for posting.

BTW my fiancee says she hates you for the sudden increase for my christmas wish list.

 

[Leonredbeard]

Story,
Sigh, so many locks/guns to build, so little time and energy!
God bless.
volatpluvia

 

[Story]

Uh huh. How about a left-handed one?

http://julia.hanovercomputer.com/firearms/mar05/catalog/images%5C54425.jpg

# 398. $4,887.50

LEFT-HANDED WHEELOCK RIFLE. NSN. Cal .40. 28" swamped oct bbl. The lock mechanism and trigger mechanism shows age. The bbl has a plate installed on the right side to repair the orig touch hole, and the touch hole on the left side is mounted in a 5/16" plug with spanner notches, mounted about 1/8" farther forward than it normally would be. The walnut stock has been carved and inlaid in the manner of an early 18th century piece, but the inlays are above the surface of the wood, one missing. CONDITION: All metal surfaces have been cleaned and polished with some signs of pitting on the iron parts. Stock, with various small imperfections, includes small cracks, chips and repairs. Mainspring attachment point on the inside of the box is broken. Mechanism is not functional. 4-54425 (4,500-7,500)

 

[benvenuto]

Dear Lord!
has anyone asked him how much they are yet? ::

 

[Light Dragoon]

I've emailed them, and still await a reply... of course since my German is rusty and horrid I asked in English, which might slow things down a tad bit. But most Europeans are more civilized than we are and actually speak and write English as well as their own lingo, so who knows... :hmm:

Cheers!

Gordon

 

[jnojr]

I've emailed them, and still await a reply...

Any word? I just emailed as well.

 

[Light Dragoon]

OOPS! Yeah, I DID get a reply, and eventually a very nice catalogue. Herr König makes some quite impressive pieces. They range from a very simple "Hakenbüchse 1430" for 650 Euro's, to a gorgeous, fully inlayed "Radschloßpuffer Nürnberg 1575" for 10,000 Euro's. His "Radschloßpistole Suhl 1630" goes for 2500 Euro's, which is more in the range of reasonable, but I assume that he would make the Puffer in a plainer version for a whole lot less that 10K Euro's!

Anyway, he seems to be a viable source for good wheellock and matchlock firearms. I hope someone tries him out and sends off an order (right now I'm WAY backed up in my own orders to Dale Shinn for wheellocks, and don't forsee placing any others in the near future.)

Cheers!

Gordon

 

[benvenuto]

I got my catalog too! Very prompt (I felt guilty when I saw the €4 postage on the envelope!)The catalog is 10 A5 loose leaf pages in a folder, with beautiful colour photos throughout.

There was a photocopied addition showing a Suhl matchlock musket from 1630 that he is making, and a Petronal with combination snap-lock and matchlock. There were also photocopied pictures of 18 guns from a private collection he has access to which he can copy. These are mainly matchlocks, but there are 3 wheel lock muskets, a wheel lock fowler and a beautiful very early St Etienne flint fusil from around 1655-60. :bow:

The bad news is the price. These are exact replicas an and hand forged for the most part, so I kind of expected high numbers.

The handgone is €650.
The matchlock muskets start at €1350.
the Wheel lock muskets start at €2800
The Snaplock petronal will be €2,200-2,600

Delivery time is stated to be 6-18 months depending on the type of order.

 

[jnojr]

Is there a source for less-expensive guns that maybe aren't painstakingly exact recreations? $2000 is a lot of dough

 

[Gary]

Check out the wall gun. Now, if it's rifled, it could deal out death from afar.

 

[Landsknecht]

I have not yet had a chance to take my Matchlock Caliver to the rifle range to test it out, but it is a beautiful gun. Check out the photos in my posts.

Telephone John Buck (his # is in the builders' list on this forum) and find out what he can build for you. My caliver was less than a 3 month wait from order to delivery. I don't want to quote a price (I'd better leave that to John) but his prices are in the hundreds, not in the thousands. :winking:

 

That is a nice rifle, left wheellocks seem to be much rarer than left flintlocks. BTW, that is definitely a late 18th century piece.

 

[benvenuto]

Looks like matchlocks are getting thinner on the ground! Sykes Sutlery used to have a "museum quality" piece for $1200 but they have stopped selling firearms altogether. Tatershall arms have 3 models available from $800-$950. Loyalist arms have them as a custom order, i think for around the same price.
If you wanna make your own, Tattershall still puts out a little book (I think) and has this online guide:
Building a matchlock

 

[Story]

More Devil's Advocacy -
[url] http://patdonnellyantiquearms.com/dec2005/display.asp?item=424[/url]

424) Austrian Wheelock Rifle. 31 1/2" octagonal, swamped barrel, approx. .64 cal., deeply rifled with 7 grooves. Decorated at muzzle and breech with gold inlay, signed " NICOLAUS KOCH IN WIENN " (Nicolaus Koch worked in Vienna 1715-32, son of Jacob Koch, Stockel, p.637). Original adjustable backsight and original foresight. Engraved brass mounts. Stock in VG condition, has areas of raised carving very reminiscent of that found on later Pennsylvania rifles. Horn and ivory inlay on lower edge of cheekrest. Original patchbox cover (these are often restorations). Brass buttplate and patchbox end. Original horn-tipped ramrod with screw charge puller. Lock has scroll engraved borders, is complete and apparently in working order - it has the typical very powerful mainspring which I did not fully span. Bore is in very good condition: deeply and sharply rifled, most of which is bright with a few areas of light pitting. It would clean even better. A good original wheelock rifle. $3700.00

 

[WRussell]

Naughty naughty, tempting us like that. Except that it is a rather late one, it is really cheap for a wheellock. I sat at an auction watching a guy ahead of me just hold up his card on every wheellock and keep it up until everyone else gave up. I think the cheapest one was over $20K

Maybe if it's still there (ha!) when I get my tax refund...

 

[spitfire]

Like a BAR for a recovering Alcoholic!Now how do I approach the spouse.... :hmm: